Wow, week 12 already. I swear that March is flying by, which is a great thing because March is usually the month that drags and drags for me.

I haven’t been weighing myself daily – I stopped when I was away on my business trip a few weeks ago and then kept forgetting until I got out of the habit. I’m going to get back on the daily weigh-ins this coming week, because they do help me stay on track and take away the anxiety of the “weigh-in day.”

I really had no idea what the scale was going to show today. It’s been a mixed week. I did well on exercise through the weekend, but then didn’t do anything Monday or Tuesday. I really need to keep myself motivated to workout right after work so that I don’t lose my momentum when I get home and start unwinding, which is another thing I’m going to work on for the coming week. This week my food was good, and I tracked 6/7 days. I did have several days that were over my new 28-point target, but since I officially get 33 from WW, none of the days were that far over. Ok, so without further ado, here’s what the scale said:

Which means I lost 1.2 pounds this week, but I still have an overall gain of 1 damn pound in the first 12 weeks of 2010. Last night as I was watching The Biggest Loser, as I do every Tuesday night, I found myself tearing up within the first 5 minutes. I often get teary-eyed as I watch that show, but usually it’s not that early. The reason was the reactions on the families and friends faces when the contestants went home for the first time in 9 weeks. Their friends and family were so proud and so shocked at their progress. Many of them looked like shadows of their former selves thanks to their hard work and dedication. I’m planning on going to Boston this summer to visit CTLB, and I want to see that look in her eyes when I see her again. I saw her in November, and I’d actually gained weight since the last time I saw her, in July 2008 for her wedding. This time I want her to see a huge change in me for the better. I want it and I have to keep that same drive the contestants on BL have in order to get it.

I know I can do better and keep my mind and motivation stronger. This week I did some good things, but I didn’t do them often or consistently enough. I have been really impressed with Scale Warfare’s 30-Day Challenge for herself, and I’ve been feeling as if I need a challenge of my own. I’m going to start small and make a 7-Day Challenge. So for the coming week, these are the things I’m going to challenge myself to do:

Drink all of my water.

Weigh myself daily.

Eat within my 28-points a day target, and only allow myself to go over that and use “flex points” 2 days, if needed.

Pre-pack my gym bag and bring it in the car so that I can go right after work. On the days that I want to take a walk or go for a bike ride outside after work, I’m going to get changed right away and then head out without stopping to rest.

Going along with #4, I am going to challenge myself to workout for at least 30 minutes, 6 of the 7 days of this challenge.

Take my multivitamin every day. This was another thing I’ve let slide since I went on my business trip, and I need to get back to it.

Man, what a show tonight! When they announced that the final four would all be completing a marathon, I almost lost it. That really hits close to home becasue of my own attempts to participate in the TNT San Diego Half Marathon. Unfortunately for me, the training requirements were too rigorous for my current abilities, and an unknown injury (numbness in my right foot that traveled all the way up to my hip) prevented me from continuing the training. At this point, I’m doing the WW Walk It Challenge and know I’ll be able to complete the 5K in June. (The easier training routine seems to be working really well for me). But, I digress…

I was amazed that Ron could finish the marathon. Good for him for continuing, despite his pain and other disadvantages. Seeing all of the former Biggest Loser winners/finalists rally around him to walk the last 8 miles with him was such an inspiration. I had tears rolling down my face as I watched him cross the finish line, and could only imagine the pride that both of his sons felt seeing their dad do something so amazing.

Even more than that was watching Tara up on that scale for the second to last weigh in. When she said it was time for her to truly start living, I was a mess. It’s so true. Being overweight – heck, let’s call it what it is – being morbidly obese I can relate so much to Tara. I don’t weigh as much as she did when she began on the show, but I’m also about 7 inches shorter than she is. (I’m 5’4″). Knowing that she transformed not only her physical self but her attitude and mental view of herself is such a motivator for me. Plus, I love the fact that she is a machine. Nothing stops that girl! I hope that I can be half as determined in my weight loss as she is.

The other thing on tonight’s show that really struck a chord for me was seeing Tara’s bedroom. Jillian said that because Tara was feeling out of control being back home, it’s manifesting itself in her room. I can relate to that too. I know that when my house is messy (or my closet is disorganized, or the laundry is piled up, needing to be put away) I feel like my life is out of control.

It’s a constant struggle for me to keep things organized so that my head is less cluttered and I can focus on the things that are most important to me, and right now the driving force of my life is losing weight. I wish I could say that I was more successful at this point in the year; that I’d lost more weight. But at the same time, I look back at how much more active I am at this point in 2009 compared to this same time last year, and I know that I’ve made huge strides in my well being. I may not be where I think I should be as far as the scale, but I know that a huge part of regaining my life through weight loss is a mental challenge. I am slowly but surely changing my whole attitude about food, food addiction via overeating/binging, and what it means to live a healhy lifestyle. All of those things take time to accomplish, and I shouldn’t get too caught up in the smaller details. I didn’t put this weight on in a year – it’s been a lifetime of being overweight – so I can’t expect it to come off all at once either. I know that sounds so trite, but it’s so true. And I have to keep reminding myself of that.

I am so proud of this season’s contestants, for the most part. Yes, there was some major game play and manipulation on Ron’s part, but overall these contestants showed compassion, integrity, and determination. Most of them seemed to truly care more about losing weight and saving their lives than they did about winning $250,000. This season, more than any other, I’ve been completely inspired. And for that, I applaud them.

I cannot wait until next week’s show, when the Biggest Loser is “crowned.” I hope that Tara pulls it out, because she deserves it more than any of the other final four, in my opinion.

Many of you know how much I love The Biggest Loser. I look forward to Tuesday nights at 8pm all week because I really get inspired watching the show. This season is probably one of my favorites because most of the contestants are such good, warm-hearted people. Such a switch from last season’s back-stabbing. So refreshing!

Last night’s makeover show was truly touching and so inspiring. I loved seeing everyone dressed up and looking wonderful, but I think it was the “movie” they watched of themselves and the journey that they’d been through that really got to me. These people don’t just look different on the outside, they truly are different on the inside, as well. The fact that Laura (one of the laziest players at the beginning of the show) has a stress fracture on her hip shows just what an athlete she’s become. It’s phenomenal what this show does for the cast members and for all of the viewing audience who, like me, can use it to become inspired each week.

I am amazed by Tara – that girl is a machine! When they show her before picture, she hardly looks like the same person. I absolutely love her strength and her ability to push forward on all of the challenges. She is definitely the one to beat this season.

Kristin is another person that I love – her attitude is so positive, and I really believe that she wants to come away from the experience able to inspire others. She’s another one with an iron will and I admire the way she takes on anything the trainers throw at her. Seeing her being so active at her weight (when she was over 300 pounds) really encouraged me to try to emulate her. She’s awesome.

I love Felipe (and his cousin Sione). I love his spirit, his heart, and his loyalty. I think he’s really going to come into his own now that his cousin isn’t on the show because he’s using Sione’s absence as motivation to push himself farther. I also loved what he said last night about being sick and tired of seeing another one of Jillian’s people at the winner’s podium. His fighting spirit may just lead him (or Kristin) to victory.

I do love the relationship between Ron and his son Michael. It definitely broke my heart to watch the younger brother, Max, crying uncontrollably because he was now “the big one.” That poor kid. It makes me wonder what is going on in that family, though. The mother is slim and fit, so how did those kids get to be so huge? I know their genes also come from Ron, who said last night that the last time he weighed less than 300 pounds was when he was 12 or so. Wow! But still, how can their mother allow them to get to be so big? It seems to me that once you see your kids getting over 200 pounds, you’d encourage them to lose weight, go outside and play, and eat more healthy. That younger son is only 17 years old, yet he’s way over 350 pounds. I know that we’re each responsible for our own bodies, but as a parent, wouldn’t you try to prevent your kids from becoming that obese? I just don’t get it.

I know that lots of people think the show is so unrealistic, and while that may be the case, I love it because it shows what a human body is capable of – how much it can change if just given the proper fuel, tools, and mindset. Even though “normal” people aren’t in the gym for 6-8 hours a day, we can watch these morbidly obese people transform themselves through diet and exercise and simulate those same principles in our own lives. Sure, it will take much longer to lose weight, but that’s not the point. The point is, it CAN be done through a lifestyle change, and I think that message is really what the show’s all about. In fact, this season they’ve said it again and again:

You can do this at home. You don’t need to be on The Biggest Loser to have success, you have the power within yourself to change your life.”

And that’s what I take away from the show each week. Motivation, positive thinking, and a huge dose of inspiration.

Like this:

Last Tuesday The Biggest Loser featured Rocco DiSpirito showing the contestants how to make healthy dinners on a budget.

The recipes looked really good, especially the mini meatball soup and the grilled chicken with warm mango salsa. The thing I liked about them, besides the fact that they were fairly easy to make, was that each of the 7 dinners featured could be made for $7 or less, per dinner. How great is that?

One of the recipes could last me at least 4 meals, which makes it even more economical.

Here’s the link to Rocco’s Recipes, in case you’re interested. I’m going to try some out and I’ll let you know how they turn out.

(Cooking healthy meals that include carbs is one of the things I’m really looking forward to about joining WW).

Like this:

Friday evening BFF called me to see how I was feeling, since she’d heard about the nasty cold I was fighting. Our conversation quickly shifted to exercising, which is something I haven’t been doing a lot of lately, especially since this lingering cold has really taken away my energy.

BFF recently bought a WiiFit, and was telling me how much she loves it. She was speaking so highly of it that my mom bought one, too. Which means that I now have two places to go and use it, so I can see if it’s something I’d want to buy for myself. Since it’s a rather expensive purchase, I want to make sure it’s something that I’d really use on a regular basis, and not go the way of my Billy Blank Kickboxing tapes or my Windsor Pilates DVDs. (I’m pretty bad about jumping on the bandwagon of exercise ideas and then not following through on them afterwards).

As were were talking, BFF and I came up with a brilliant idea: We both love watching The Biggest Loser, and we both need to workout more than we usually do. So we came up with the plan that Tuesday nights would become our Biggest Loser Nights.

I’d go over to BFF’s house around 7pm and we’d do the WiiFit together. Since it’s only set up for a single user at a time, we’d take turns. I’m thinking that one of us could do crunches while the other is on the Wii, just to keep the heart rate up. After we workout, we’ll watch Biggest Loser together, feeling great knowing that we already got our exercise in.

I can’t tell you the amount of guilt I feel if I haven’t worked out before watching The Biggest Loser. It usually passes pretty quickly, but still, how can I feel good about watching other people sweat their asses off while I’m sitting on the couch “getting inspired?”

This Tuesday is our first BL Tuesday, so I’ll write more about it later in the week. I’m really looking forward to it!

Like this:

I am obsessed with The Biggest Loser, I admit it. When Tuesday gets here, I look forward to 8pm because I know it’s going to be on.

I know a lot of people are critical of the show, but to me, it’s got everything — weight loss inspiration, personal dramas, game play, “characters,” people you love, and people you love to hate.

I’ve often thought about what it would be like if I were on the show. Would I be able to deal with Jillian nagging at me to MOVE! Would I be someone people would want to form alliances with, or would I be someone that they’d vote off right away? I have a feeling I’d be one of the more dominant people on the show, and I’d be one that America either loved or hated. That’s how most people react to me — all or nothing, not usually a lot of equivocation. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So I don’t pay attention to those who disparage my favorite T.V. show. By watching The Biggest Loser every Tuesday night, I get to recharge my weight loss convictions and make a new commitment to myself.